One Thousand and One Nights

One Thousand and One Nights (Arabic:كِتَاب أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة‎kitāb ʾalf layla wa-layla) is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.

The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, and Egyptian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian workHazār Afsān (Persian:هزار افسان‎‎, lit. A Thousand Tales) which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār (from Persian:شهريار‎‎, meaning "king" or "sovereign") and his wife Scheherazade (from Persian:شهرزاد‎‎, possibly meaning "of noble lineage"), and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more. The bulk of the text is in prose, although verse is occasionally used for songs and riddles and to express heightened emotion. Most of the poems are single couplets or quatrains, although some are longer.

Plot

Vagabond singer Aladdin (Cornel Wilde) has his hands full keeping his pickpocket friend, Abdullah (Phil Silvers), out of trouble. Abdullah is thought mad as he claims to have been born 1200 years too early, speaks in 1940s slang and knows about television.

When the beautiful Princess Armina (Adele Jergens), the daughter of the Sultan (Dennis Hoey), is borne through the streets in a covered litter, however, it is Aladdin who gets into difficulty. Despite knowing the punishment is death for a commoner to see the princess's face, Aladdin cannot resist. He distracts the guards and slips into the litter. He persuades Armina to let her veil be lifted and is delighted to discover the stories of her beauty are true. He falls in love instantly. She is not so enamored of him, but does not raise an outcry when he slips away.

A Thousand and One Nights (Smash song)

"A Thousand and One Nights" is an original song introduced in the twelfth episode of the first season of the musical TV series Smash, entitled "Publicity". It was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, but in the episode, it's presented as a character's fantasy of a Bollywood musical number so the songwriter is unnamed.

In the episode, Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee and her boyfriend Dev (Raza Jaffrey) are having a tense dinner with movie star Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman) at an Indian restaurant. Rebecca has taken over as the lead in the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell, while Karen is her understudy. However, Rebecca has taken Karen out for quite a bit of partying, which has caused tensions between Karen and Dev. During the meal, Rebecca and Dev start to argue about who is the one harming Karen. An uncomfortable Karen starts watching a Bollywood movie on one of the screens, and then imagines herself in a Bollywood-style movie with first Dev, then herself singing the song, with practically the entire rest of the main cast and various supporting players of the series performing as backup. The song is sung in the style of an Indian Bollywood song, with the performers dressed in Indian clothes.

A Thousand And One Nights

Dev:Darling, the hands of time must always point ahead, yesterday's passedToday has come and gone, the secret of tomorrow's coming fastWhich bedtime story shall I sing to you when we turn out the lights?One of eternity or one of just a thousand and one nights?Is there a mystic with the answers from above?Is there a goddess with the hourglass of love?So many questions swirling all around my heartIs this the end or just the start?Will I shower you with riches every year the night we met?Will you take my heart or melt it likes it's gold?Will our love go on forever or is this all that we get?Is tonight the last or does the future holdA lifetime of delightsOr just a thousand and one nights?Karen:Darling, you seem to think that I'm the only who has to chooseThat you are in control and get to set the rules of win or loseThe bedtime story that I'll sing to you when we turn out the lightsMay bring eternity or maybe just a thousand and one nightsThere is no mystic with the answers from aboveYou know the secrets for the way to keep my loveThere are a thousand and more ways to win my heartThe list is long but for a startYou can shower me with riches every year the night we metI may take your heart and melt it like it's goldPlay in someone's perfumed garden and this night's the last you'll getPlay your cards right and your future just might holdA lifetime of delightsOr just a thousand and one nightsJust a thousand and one nightsKaren:The man who never chooses finds himself without a choiceDev:The lucky ones appear to have it allKaren:The tiger's just a kitten when his tamer finds her voiceDev:I surely will obey you when you callEnsemble:Then will you shower me with riches every year the night we met?Will you take my heart and melt it likes it's gold?Will our love go on forever or is this all that we get?Is tonight the last or does the future holdA lifetime of delightsOr just a thousand and one nights